Steering-wheel



H. W. BUNDY.

STEERING WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.26. 1919.

Patented Nov. 15, 1921.,

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

H. W. BUNDY.

STEERING WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.26, 1919.

Patented Nov. 15, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

/ IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I citizen of the UnitedStates, residing ED STATES PATENT cr mes.

1 w. BUNDY, or ria'rnorr, MICHIGAN.

STEER NG-WHEEL.

Laaaaao.

To allwhomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY W. BUNDY, a at De-. troit, in the county of Wayne and btate of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SteeringeWheeIS, of

Which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to steeringwheels and has for its object a new form' of steering wheel which is manufactured by a new method. Steering wheels are usually made with malleable iron spiders and laminated wood rims. This is a rather expensive construction and suitable wood is'not alwaysgto be had at the times it.

is needed. It is the object of the present invention to construct a steering wheel, the supporting parts of which are entlrely made out of metal of a character that can be produ cedeconomically and expeditiously. The spider is a stamping and the rim is made out of metal produced in lengths or as stampijngs. The detailedflconstruction will appear hereinafter.

In the drawings,-' Figure 1 is a planview of the finished steering wheel.

the rim about to be assembled.

Fig. 6 is a cross-section of the spider and rim assembled with the rubber coating in place. 1 v

The spider is made of two pairs of spider arms each pair made of a single strip stamped into channel shape, as shown in Fig. 4:, with the upper pair of spiderarms punched out at the center to former boss a and the lower pair of spider arms flattened pose of insuring thehole being absolutely centered with the rim. This center hub is'held out at the center as at b and punched to form a depending-boss cf These two bosses and openingssupport the center hub d wh ch is bored and slotted afterassem-bly for the purin place by brazing or otherwise and the two center portions of the two pairs of spider Specification of Letters Patent.

, Application fil'ed December 26,1919. serial No. 347,264..

Patented Nov. tamer.

arms are brazed together where the flanges e of the top pair overlap the flat portion 6 of the lower pair of spider arms.

'F or the rim a pieced-of closed tubin is preferably used. It may be either seam ess tubing, welded tubing or brazed tubing;

' This is bent to substantially circular shape either when it is manufactured or else by 3- suitable bending dies and the two endsare welded together as at f (Fig. 5). Slots '9 with in-turned lips are'punched on the inside of the rim for rec ,iving the spider arms; It will be noticed (in ig. 5) that the spider .arms before they are, assembled into" the closed tubing are very much more concave than in the final product. This makes a very much smaller diameter for the spider arms and enables them to be placed within a the interior diameter of the prospective rim. In this position they may be properly caused to register with the openings 9 punched in the prospective rim and suitable dies may then be utilized to flatten out the spider as shown in Fig. 6, thereby spreading the spider-arms and forcing them into the rim tubing, as shown in Figs. 6 and 3. The

spider arm ends may then be welded to the v rim, the turned-in lips formed by the punched holes forming suitable stock for this purpose. This forms a steering wheel which in itself is complete and could be used upon ordinary jobs.

However, if a more finished steering wheel is desired such as would be more suitable for high-priced passenger cars, the metal rim may be electro-plated or otherwise coated with a suitable metal or alloy that permits rubber to be vulcanized directly to the metal. It is a well known fact that witha suitable coating,'the rubber can be vulcanized di rectly to the metal to form a chemical combination'between the rubber and the metal so as to insure its very securely adhering to the metal. Patents Nos. 1,120,794, 1,057,333, and 264,121, describe processes to accomplish this and there are many others. This will form a very superior steering wheel with a, rim which will not slip in the hands, which will be warm in the winter, and which may be made soft for gripping. This rubber may be fluted or otherwise corrugated as shown in Fig. 1, this being more or less a matter of taste. i

. The lihb piece may be inserted as a solid piece, as shown in Fig. 5, and then may be of the rim overlapped and bossed, at vthe drilled-and slotted after assembly to assure center with each provided With sideextendcorrect centering. ing flanges at the center which sire over- 10 What I claim is: lapped and secured together, and" a hub se- 5 A steering Wheel comprising a rim and a cured in the bosses of the overlapping arms;

spider, the latter made up of a plurality of In testimony whereof I aifix my s gnature. channeled arms extending from side to side HARRY W. BUN DY. 

